


Clean Again

by tinyscales



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Background Wolfstar, Bathing/Washing, Family Feels, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, If You Squint - Freeform, Regulus Black Feels, Regulus Black Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:21:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25866610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinyscales/pseuds/tinyscales
Summary: Regulus survives the cave. Sirius takes care of him.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 136





	Clean Again

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not the most confident writer, but I had some Regulus feelings I needed to let out.

Regulus is cold and grimy and smells like death. There are chunks of god knows what stuck to his sodden clothes, his weeping skin. He looks monstrous and feels even worse. Kreacher hasn’t left his side since the Order meeting. Just keeps one equally chilled hand wrapped around Regulus’ own. He wonders if his friend is as traumatised as he is. 

He can still feel the vicious hands of the inferi, pulling at him from all angles, tearing him apart, dragging him down, down, down. It takes him longer than it should do to realise the hands he feels on him now belong to his brother; frantic, but significantly more gentle. 

Sirius has him by the face. His long fingers are in his hair, his thumbs grip his high cheekbones. He’s saying something slow and sincere in that special way Sirius reserves only for the ones he loves most. Regulus hates it. He hates it so much he’s almost glad he’s too out of it to properly understand what’s going on around him.

Unable to bear the desperate look in his brother’s eyes, Regulus averts his own and stares off into the nearby fireplace. He watches the flames flicker and keeps watching until he begins to register the pop and crackle of the wood.

“I’ll stick the kettle on,” Someone, not Sirius, says. Regulus recognises the voice but can’t put a face or name to it. The someone must be close to his brother, though, if their reaction to witnessing a half-drowned deatheater stumble through their kitchen door is to ‘stick the kettle on’ and not 'alert the ministry'. 

Somehow, Sirius manages to herd both Regulus and Kreacher into the bathroom. At first, he had tried to separate the pair, but Regulus had gripped the elf tighter and hardened his jaw. He may have been sucked into the murky depths of hell only to be spat back out again, but not even that could quell Regulus Black's stubborn streak. So, Sirius gave in and Kreacher found himself perched on the edge on the toilet lid while Regulus soaked in the bath. 

With sure fingers, Sirius takes Regulus by the chin and gently guides his head back. He summons a plastic jug, fills it with clean water and begins to rinse his brother’s filthy hair. Grey muck splashes into the clear water of the tub, tainting it under the flickering fluorescent light above. Regulus closes his eyes against the glare and tries his best to forget how the half-moon had smirked down at him tauntingly as he drowned. Instead, he focuses on Sirius’ soft mantra of  _ you’re safe now, Reggie _ and  _ I’m so, so proud of you _ . He lets his brother’s voice wash over him and chase away the cold ghost of the hands that had come so close to destroying him. 

There’s an airy squeak of a near to empty bottle, then Sirius is massaging shampoo into Regulus’ hair. The scent - coconut, he thinks - is easy on his wearied senses. It’s probably a muggle brand but he can’t find it in himself to care. He wonders if he’ll ever care about that sort of thing again. Sirius refills the jug and rinses his hair.

“Please say something,” Regulus hears the crack in his brother’s voice, the barely contained pain finally breaking through the haze that has surrounded him since he was dragged from the murky waters of the cave.

He opens his mouth, closes it again. Then, with a nasty sob, manages a splintered, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Once he’s out of the bath, Sirius dries him the best he can with their rough towels. He dresses him in his pyjamas, which despite their small age gap, consume Regulus. Regulus feels tiny and fragile inside them, but also safe and loved and cared for. It makes his eyes sting and he wipes at them with his sleeve while he’s guided towards a battered brown sofa in the living room. He allows himself to be sat down and wrapped in blankets in front of a small, square television. Sirius has to hit it a few times to get it going, but soon it’s quietly playing a programme Regulus does not know or care about the name of. 

He isn’t sure when Remus Lupin slips into the room with a piping cup of tea in hand. Regulus hasn’t seen the man since sixth year. He looks a little worse for wear but feels strong when he firmly presses the cup into Regulus’ loose hands along with a few squares of chocolate, telling him it'll make him feel better. He doesn't know how much stock he places in chocolate-based remedies but eats it anyway and discovers that Remus isn't entirely wrong. 

Ten minutes later and Regulus is strung out and tired, his eyelids drooping with a need for sleep. Kreacher hovers by the door, watching Sirius and Lupin with great scrutiny like he doesn’t trust them to be within a meter radius of Regulus. There’s no point in trying to settle him; he’s about as likely to accept that a half-blood and a blood traitor are the good guys as he is to see Regulus as the monster he truly is. Regulus knows he shouldn’t be thankful for the latter, but he is. He is.

He watches, head leant back on the sofa as Lupin rests a hand between his brother’s tense shoulder blades. Sirius visibly relaxes and lets out a long breath. Tentatively, a smile ghosts his lips and, just like that, Sirius looks an awful lot more like Sirius.

“Everything will be alright, now, Reggie,” he says, “You’ll see.”

Regulus isn’t so sure but cocooned in his brother’s scent, safe in the flat he shares with Lupin, with his best friend nearby, Regulus allows himself to hope.


End file.
